Dingwall Owners Club

[Bassheart365]

A couple of photos from Maurillo Mina (aka "Mo") of the mods he has done so far.

• Series/parallel switches for each pickup
• 6 way rotary selector knob. Here is what I decided on:

• middle solo
• bridge-middle series
• bridge-middle parallel
• bridge-neck parallel
• neck
• bridge-middle-neck

Based on what I used on my Z3, the bridge-middle series (MM) and bridge-neck parallel (Jazz) will probably get the most use. Curious to see how I like the middle solo.

Next up: back flush-mount strap lock insert (like the Z models) and replace the stock strap buttons with flush mount strap locks (thanks for that idea @xnewyorka ).

 

[spiritbass]

Your middle pickup should sound similar to the 'neck' p/u on an NG-2. Mine sounds like a big P bass with an attitude - edgier with fuller low end, if you can dig it. I've also been pondering the recessed straplock on the backside mod on the NG-2...

 

[johnsonabq]

is @xnewyorka out of basses? He probably has one or two with a DG. He's a great guy to work with!

John is where I got my Z3. He has one that's close, but the one at BD has the wenge/wenge that's so highly recommended. Combine that with the DGTC, FDV pups, and alder body it should be a nice aggressive sounding bass to compliment my Z3 w/Glock.

 

[pbass6811]

I just got a quote from Bass Direct for this bass...

View attachment 3215363
View attachment 3215371

Invalid Link Removed

$3630 at the current exchange rate. This includes the addition of a Darkglass pre. Wenge/wenge neck, FDV pups, Luminlay speedo bars and dots, 8lbs 3ozs.

Hmmmmm.........

You are, indeed, sick wit' it...bahahaha!

Cool specs! I was checking out their inventory. That one is pretty hot. I like the fact that they will do mods if you request. That's a cool shop...

 

[AB Nate]

John is where I got my Z3. He has one that's close, but the one at BD has the wenge/wenge that's so highly recommended. Combine that with the DGTC, FDV pups, and alder body it should be a nice aggressive sounding bass to compliment my Z3 w/Glock.

*Cough! Cough!*

Uh oh definitely infected hey...
That’s a nice looking bass and it sounds like a fair price. Between shipping and duties do you have a final price?

 

[Waltsdog]

OT: What is the advantage of Transferwise over a standard international wire transfer from my bank? (Never heard of Transferwise before.)

Transferwise is just a FOREX company, with an international wire transfer you get dinged with fees on both ends (who know how banks can get away with this nowadays!) and you get the receiving banks exchange rate on the day it goes through. Banks rates are usually well below the actual rate you see online on XE for example.
The FOREX companies charge a smaller fee and giver better rate in short, they saved me around $1000CAD in fees and poor bank exchange rates.
Transferwise is particularly easy to use as you can manage everything online, get guaranteed rates etc.

The downside is that they're not flawless, mainly issues with accepting people, they will ask for a lot of documents for registration (That's mainly to do with anti-money laundering rules) etc. Never send them any cash until you're fully registered obviously.

 

[Waltsdog]

Ouch! Just found out it'll be a 5% duty.

Better than the 20% VAT (sales tax to you) that you would pay if you bought it in the UK

 

[BurningSkies]

I didn't post this one yesterday, whole bass:

Cornsidering doing some other work...a friend who's also on the "Mo Mods" bandwagon suggests I should hit him up on this. Thoughts on:

-Adding Piezo saddles and whatever needed additional buffer/preamp to go with it.
-Integrating that with the Dingwall electronics so I could not only have the standard switch and tone controls but also a piezo on/off and blend.
-And if I'm doing it add the parallel/series switches (yes these are FD3-4L pickups).
-While ABM lists a stock set of saddles, I can't see that anyone actually sells them. But graphtech does... Invalid Link Removed

 

[xnewyorka]

Transferwise is just a FOREX company, with an international wire transfer you get dinged with fees on both ends (who know how banks can get away with this nowadays!) and you get the receiving banks exchange rate on the day it goes through. Banks rates are usually well below the actual rate you see online on XE for example.
The FOREX companies charge a smaller fee and giver better rate in short, they saved me around $1000CAD in fees and poor bank exchange rates.
Transferwise is particularly easy to use as you can manage everything online, get guaranteed rates etc.

The downside is that they're not flawless, mainly issues with accepting people, they will ask for a lot of documents for registration (That's mainly to do with anti-money laundering rules) etc. Never send them any cash until you're fully registered obviously.

That is great helpful info - thanks! Good to know since I am possibly going to be shipping my Vigier Arpege III 5-string back to Europe shortly.

 

[johnsonabq]

Better than the 20% VAT (sales tax to you) that you would pay if you bought it in the UK

 

[johnsonabq]

*Cough! Cough!*

Uh oh definitely infected hey...
That’s a nice looking bass and it sounds like a fair price. Between shipping and duties do you have a final price?

I don't know what the Transferwise fee will be, but at the current exchange rate I'm quoted, bass, DGTC upgrade, shipping, and duties will be about $3,811.

 

[Waltsdog]

I don't know what the Transferwise fee will be.

I can double check but I think my transfer fee was about £4 or something trivial like that.

 

[MDBass]

A couple of photos from Maurillo Mina (aka "Mo") of the mods he has done so far.

• Series/parallel switches for each pickup
• 6 way rotary selector knob. Here is what I decided on:

• middle solo
• bridge-middle series
• bridge-middle parallel
• bridge-neck parallel
• neck
• bridge-middle-neck

Based on what I used on my Z3, the bridge-middle series (MM) and bridge-neck parallel (Jazz) will probably get the most use. Curious to see how I like the middle solo. View attachment 3215546 View attachment 3215547

Next up: back flush-mount strap lock insert (like the Z models) and replace the stock strap buttons with flush mount strap locks (thanks for that idea @xnewyorka ).

Mo is a WIZARD, looks killer!

 

[MDBass]

You can also slap a D-Bird: who knew?

 

[IronSpatula]

I didn't post this one yesterday, whole bass:
View attachment 3215578

-Adding Piezo saddles and whatever needed additional buffer/preamp to go with it...

I have a piezo system in my (non-Dingwall) fretless and in all honesty I'm not a huge fan. Compared to the magnetic pickups it sounds kind of sterile, with a slightly plastic character. It does bring out certain details that magnetic pickups miss, but these include non-musical finger noise and buzzes.

It really doesn't sound terrible, but in my opinion magnetic pickups do more to bring out the musical aspects of string/fingerboard interaction and have a better midrange response, at least with rounds. I personally wouldn't shell out $$$ to add piezos. But of course YMMV--listen to some youtube vids and if at all possible play some piezo-equipped fretless basses. Who knows, you may dig it.

 

[AB Nate]

I don't know what the Transferwise fee will be, but at the current exchange rate I'm quoted, bass, DGTC upgrade, shipping, and duties will be about $3,811.

Shipping too? Wow. That then sounds like a price to be reckoned with. GL whatever you do.......


I’m just sitting here trying to be as patient as I can as we are in the final stages of what may be my be all end all of basses...... and then maybe one more

 

[BassAgent]

that looks great! did it come with instructions?!

Haha no! I'm not going to replace the body myself. I'm pretty decent at soldering passive electronics but an active preamp like this one is way beyond my league. Gonna find a luthier with experience with active basses.

You can also slap a D-Bird: who knew?

I knew! I slapped one at the London Bass Guitar Show last year. You can do anything on a D-Bird.

 

[johnsonabq]

Shipping too? Wow. That then sounds like a price to be reckoned with. GL whatever you do.......


I’m just sitting here trying to be as patient as I can as we are in the final stages of what may be my be all end all of basses...... and then maybe one more

Thanks Nate. I'm just trying to decide if I want to let go of one of my Spectors for this.

I take it you're nearing the end of an order you placed. The waiting IS the hardest part. I thought the 6-8 months for a Spector build was bad, but two years?...
It is nice though to get the exact bass you're looking for. Maybe one day I'll brave that wait time and order my dream Z3.

 

[BurningSkies]

I have a piezo system in my (non-Dingwall) fretless and in all honesty I'm not a huge fan. Compared to the magnetic pickups it sounds kind of sterile, with a slightly plastic character. It does bring out certain details that magnetic pickups miss, but these include non-musical finger noise and buzzes.

It really doesn't sound terrible, but in my opinion magnetic pickups do more to bring out the musical aspects of string/fingerboard interaction and have a better midrange response, at least with rounds. I personally wouldn't shell out $$$ to add piezos. But of course YMMV--listen to some youtube vids and if at all possible play some piezo-equipped fretless basses. Who knows, you may dig it.

I think it probably amounts to the devil being in the details. One or two guys I've talked to have said that they CAN be awesome and sound great, others have similar feedback to yours. I'm pretty sure it's an implementation issue...making sure that you have the impedance matched correctly and a preamp that works well with it as well as quality saddles/pickups. My real desire is to be able to be able to blend piezo with magnetic when I want (or have full electric or full piezo). It'll be a while before I tackle doing anything anyway as I'm going to play it as-is for a good while and then maybe do something later in the spring.

 

[funk_in4]

Oh my no, you wouldn't want to live anywhere near that area. It is either industrial or "low rent" in one of the crime capitals of Canada.

Saskatoon is actually a pretty decent city, fwiw. The Dingwall shop is not, however, in a residential neighborhood...but whenever I play in town I usually walk there and say hello